Trump expected to tap critic of the World Bank to lead it

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to nominate David Malpass, a Trump administration critic of the World Bank, to lead the institution.

That’s according to a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly on personnel decisions.

Trump is expected to make an announcement later this week.

Malpass, the undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department, has been a sharp critic of the World Bank, especially over its lending to China.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to confirm that Malpass is the president’s pick to lead the institution on Tuesday.

“When the president is ready to make that announcement, he certainly will,” Sanders said. “I can tell you if he chooses David, it will be a great choice. Highly respected and a strong member of the team.”

Malpass would succeed Jim Yong Kim, who announced in January that he is stepping down three years before his term was set to expire.

The final decision on a successor to Kim will be up to the bank’s board.

The World Bank was founded in 1944 with the task of shoring up the economies of nations devastated by World War II. The first recipient of a World Bank loan was France.

The bank, whose leader is nominated by the U.S. and has always been a U.S. citizen, has since shifted its focus from reconstruction, to development, extensively in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Kim’s unexpected departure is likely to become a contentious fight between the Trump administration and other countries who believe the United States exerts too much influence over the bank, which is based in Washington.

The White House said last month that Ivanka Trump will take part in the nomination process.

Left:
Economist and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Malpass stands in an elevator headed to a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York on December 2, 2016. Trump is expected to tap Malpass to head the World Bank. Photo by Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters